Oct 15-21, 2014
Gov. Shumlin May Win in November, but Can He Convince the Legislature to Back His Single-Payer Health Care Plan?; A Wannabe Governor Campaigns for Credibility; Gannett Put the Squeeze on the Burlington Free Press
Cover Story
The Emperor’s New Bros: Can Shumlin Sell Single-Payer to the Vermont Legislature?
Gov. Peter Shumlin tried to liven up a staid crowd of supporters last month by summoning his inner Barack Obama. “Are you fired up?” he yelled, his nasal voice mimicking the president’s familiar inflection. “Come on!” Dressed in a charcoal suit, blue shirt and pink tie, Shumlin stood at a wooden podium on the third…
Obituary: Robert N. Spear Jr., 1920-2014, Huntington
Robert N. Spear Jr. – Huntington – 94, passed away on Sunday, October 19, 2014 surrounded by his family and friends. Bob was born in Burlington in 1920 to Robert N. Spear Sr. and Dorothy (Morrby) Spear. He spent much of his childhood roaming the woods around Wyben, Massachusetts. Bob’s family moved back to Vermont…
Obituary: Mary Josephine (Oddo) Ross
Mary Josephine (Oddo) Ross, age 88 years, died unexpectedly Wednesday evening October 15, 2014, at the Northwestern Medical Center in Saint Albans, Vermont Born in Norwalk, Ohio on May 23 1926, she was the daughter of the late William H. and Nina (Casablanca) Oddo. She attended the University of California and in 1955, was married…
Obituary: John G. Boucher
John G. Boucher, age 87 years, died late Sunday evening, October 19, 2014, in the Northwestern Medical Center. Born on the family farm in Highgate Center, August 3, 1927, he was the son of the late Rene and Imelda (Choquette) Boucher. He was the middle child in a family of 11 children. From 1943 to…
Barbacoa, Italian Medallion
(Self-released, CD, digital download) For reasons we can’t quite explain, surf music has recently experienced a minor renaissance in Vermont. But long before local bands such as the High Breaks, the Concrete Rivals and the Tsunamibots began wading in those waters, Bill Mullins reigned as the local king of the surf guitar. His band, Barbacoa,…
The Steve Blair Septet, Ostinato
(Self-released, CD, digital download) Steve Blair is one of the most accomplished and well-respected jazz guitarists in Vermont. He has toured the world and played on records with the likes of Will Patton, Science Fixion and his own fusion project, Freefall. Blair, who currently serves as the director of jazz studies at Johnson State College…
The Judge
Sometimes people should stick to what they do well. Sure, it’s only natural to want to prove you’re a pony with more than one trick, but the cruel truth is that some people were put on earth for one purpose only. Director David Dobkin was born to give us 2005’s immortal Wedding Crashers and comedies…
Farmers Run Afoul of Labor Laws — and Pay for It
On a sunny, blustery afternoon last week, Asa Manning maneuvered a tractor carrying a large round bale of haylage into the barn at Butterworks Farm, a bustling Westfield organic dairy and granary. Upstairs, in the small milk-processing plant, Theresa Peura shuttled quarts of yogurt, made from milk from the farm’s big-eyed Jerseys, from the filling…
Kill the Messenger
Which is worse: not to tell an important story, or to flub its telling? Journalist Gary Webb didn’t commit either sin in 1996 when he published his “Dark Alliance” series in the San Jose Mercury News. The story alleged that, during the 1980s, the CIA knowingly countenanced Nicaraguan Contras who smuggled cocaine into the U.S.…
Art Review: ‘Visual Weimar,’ Middlebury College Museum of Art
Middlebury College Museum of Art, with its small but impressive permanent displays and consistently strong special shows, serves as a valuable cultural resource for both locals and visitors. But that’s only half of its identity. The museum is also integral to the college’s educational mission. Both aspects of the institution shine forth in “Visual Weimar:…
Vermont to Host Its First Firkin Festival
On Saturday, November 8, Winooski’s Four Quarters Brewing will host the first annual VT Firkin Festival outside its West Canal Street brewery. The event, coproduced with Vermont Brewers Festival director Laura Streets, will feature cask- and firkin-conditioned beers from breweries around the region, including several buzzy names from north of the border. Those not in…
A Winooski Exhibit Puts Faces to Front Porch Forum Names
A couple of summers ago, Winooski photographer Dan Higgins attended two neighborhood fish fries in a single day: one hosted by the Winooski Fire Department, the other by the O’Brien Community Center. Though the events were located within spitting distance, he recalls, the crowds couldn’t have been more different. “I’m the only person, I think,…
Free Will Astrology (10/15/14)
ARIES (March 21-April 19): New York City’s Diamond District is home to more than 2,000 businesses that buy and sell jewelry. Throughout the years, many people have lost bits of treasure here. Valuable bits of gold and gems have fallen off broken necklaces, earrings, watches and other accessories. Now an enterprising man named Raffi Stepnanian…
Soundbites: Alpenglow’s Chapel Tour; Colin Clary’s New Project
One damn thing. That’s what Jeff Tweedy told Middlebury-born indie folk group Alpenglow when the band met the Wilco front man after they played a gig in Chicago with Lucius and Tweedy’s son Spencer Tweedy’s band, the Blisters. One. Damn. Thing. Don’t move to Brooklyn. So what did Alpenglow do with this sage advice from…
Stevens Mills
Kenneth Kingsley was sitting beside me in the shotgun seat of my taxi on a mild and sunny weekday afternoon. “I never imagined something like this would happen to me.” “Nope,” I commiserated. “We never do.” My customer had just spent some life-saving time at Fletcher Allen hospital having “a few valves” installed in his…
![Shoreham Orchard Tour [SIV372]](https://i0.wp.com/www.sevendaysvt.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/episode372.webp?resize=1200%2C900&ssl=1)
Shoreham Orchard Tour [SIV372]
10/9/14: Eva and her mom play tourists for the day and go leaf peeping down Route 22A to Shoreham where they stopped at three apple orchards – Champlain Orchards, Douglas Orchards and Sentinel Pine Orchards. Even on a cloudy day, there are many fall adventures to be had all over Vermont this season! Music: Bert…
Vanpooling in Vermont: Why and How
On September 21, hundreds of thousands of people descended on New York City for what was called the largest climate-change march in history. The air swirled with conversations about fuel efficiency, energy policies and the relationship of economic and environmental health. Back home in Vermont, such conversations are nothing new at the Agency of Transportation.…
A Last-Minute Candidate Takes on Vermont’s Veteran Attorney General
Until recently, Vermont Attorney General Bill Sorrell, a Democrat who has been in office for 17 years, appeared comfortably headed for reelection in a race that seemed a foregone conclusion. Shane McCormack, a contracts lawyer in Burlington, assumed that someone would challenge Sorrell. After all, the attorney general had nearly been unseated in the Democratic…
News Quirks (10/15/14)
Curses, Foiled Again After police released surveillance videos of a carjacking in New Haven, Conn., three probation officers identified the suspect as Gary Harding, 26. To avoid arousing suspicion, they asked Harding to attend a routine probation meeting. He obliged by showing up in the stolen vehicle and was arrested. (Hartford’s WFSB-TV) Police chasing a…
Party Time: Vermont Dems Have an Organizational Edge
All things being equal, Gov. Peter Shumlin and Lt. Gov. Phil Scott would cruise to victory if November’s election were held today. Or, at least, if it was held two weeks ago, when the Castleton Polling Institute wrapped up this fall’s most scientific survey of Vermont voters. The poll, commissioned by WCAX-TV, showed that Shumlin’s…
Gubernatorial Candidate Emily Peyton Fights for a Place at the Table
Emily Peyton was drawing a dragon. “I really should be doing this,” she said ruefully, pointing her black pen at a pile of campaign materials to her right. Also on the table: a thick paperback titled Extreme Prejudice: The Terrifying Story of the Patriot Act And the Cover Ups of 9/11 and Iraq. Approximately 630,000…
Vibrator for Two?
Dear Athena, My boyfriend and I have been together for more than six years, and we have a pretty good thing going. I have always had a vibrator and recently attempted to bring it into sex, but he was really not into it. He even said he doesn’t like that I have one. He didn’t…
New Military Science-Fiction Anthology Takes War Seriously
Forget whatever preconceived notions you may have about a science fiction anthology that was coedited by a Norwich University administrator who has a master’s degree in military history and a hobby of dressing up as a Star Wars Imperial Stormtrooper. The 23 short works in War Stories: New Military Science Fiction, released last week by…
Letters to the Editor (10/15/14)
Rx for Health Care Freedom Thanks for publishing Kathryn Flagg’s excellent article on the disparate payments that Vermont’s private health insurers pay for services provided by independent physicians as compared to hospital-employed physicians [“Independent Docs Struggle to Compete With Hospitals,” October 1]. Vermonters need to know this is happening, and to understand that insurance-payment practices…
BCA’s ‘Of Land and Local’ Exhibit Keeps Growing
The inspiration for Burlington City Arts’ sprawling, statewide art exhibit “Of Land & Local” arrived in the form of a tomato. In early summer 2013, BCA’s chief curator, DJ Hellerman, was perusing the stalls of the weekend farmers market outside his organization’s flagship gallery in City Hall Park. A gesture caught his eye: A farmer…
Bill Reed’s Star Opera Students Perform in Burlington
Go see a musical in Vermont, and it’s likely that the lead singers have trained with Bill Reed. Founder of the musical-theater program at New York City’s Circle in the Square Theatre School, Reed is a veteran voice teacher who has guided many a singer all the way to Broadway from his home studio in…
A Talk With Paula Poundstone
Paula Poundstone had paid her dues touring the country’s comedy clubs when, in 2001, she landed a career-changing gig as a regular panelist on the National Public Radio news quiz show “Wait Wait … Don’t Tell Me!” At NPR, Poundstone found an ideal venue for her off-the-cuff observational comedy. She continues to tour regularly and…
Previewing the Vermont International Film Festival
“You were aglow with movie love,” said Seth Jarvis to Orly Yadin, describing Yadin’s mood after seeing the 2013 Swedish film We Are the Best! Yadin concurred, remembering how she’d immediately announced that it would be the opening-night film for the upcoming Vermont International Film Festival. Yadin is the executive director of the Vermont International…
Natalie Merchant Talks About Finding Her Voice
It’s taken Natalie Merchant nearly a lifetime to find her voice. That may come as a surprise to those who have followed the singer’s long career. Whether performing solo or as front woman for the acclaimed 1980s rock band 10,000 Maniacs, Merchant has long possessed one of the most distinctive voices in pop music. But…
Theater Review: Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike, Vermont Stage Company
The most popular comedy on the theater circuit right now, and the winner of the 2013 Tony Award for Best Play, keeps its characters in bathrobes or fairy-tale costumes or shirtless for most of its playing time. Despite the title’s reference to Anton Chekhov, Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike relies on costumes to…
Two Vermont Companies Make a Case for Mead
Downtown Groton has two churches, a post office and some town offices. There’s also an al fresco junk shop in someone’s front yard and a gazebo tucked into a tiny town green, now corn-stalked, pumpkined and mummed into the very visage of fall. Years ago, the main drag also had a general store — one…
Grilling the Chef: Adam Longworth, the Common Man
How does Adam Longworth keep a cool temper in a heated kitchen? The Northfield-bred kid who made good as longtime chef de cuisine at New York landmark Gotham Bar and Grill says his secret is staying physically fit. He and his partner, Lorien Wroten, returned to Vermont for the mountain biking. Now, even in the…
Winooski’s Waterworks to Open in November
Restoration of the space once known as Waterworks Restaurant in Winooski’s Champlain Mill began early this year, and diners can expect the new restaurant to open in late November. Following precedent, it will be known as Waterworks Food & Drink. Waterworks owner David Abdoo also co-owns Pizzeria Verità; his co-owner at the latter, Leslie Wells,…
14th Star Brewing Gets New Digs in Downtown St. Albans
After about a week of boil-testing the kettles, 14th Star Brewing is gearing up for the inaugural brew in its new space in a former bowling alley, at 133 North Main Street in St. Albans. The new 30-barrel system will increase the brewery’s output from the current 750 barrels per year to about 12,000 barrels…
